Infection
by Suresh0t
Summary: Earth has been ravaged by an unknown infection as the result of a fungus once hailed to cure cancer. Darren, a twenty year old survivor gets attacked and is brought to Avalar. But with him he brings spores which also causes infection. Can Spyro, Cynder, and Darren find a cure? Or will Avalar become a spitting image of Earth.
1. Chapter 1

(A/N) Hey guys im back, its been awhile but heres a new story.

"Twenty years ago, we thought we had made a medical discovery. A fungus that could cure cancer and destroy tumors. Although we knew it had small initial effects on the human body, we ignored the deadly underlying cause, infection. The people went insane, brutally killing and transferring the virus to the ones they bit. Now twenty years later, we are struggling to survive, the infected press against our borders, and they let off these spores that also transmit the infection. I've been sent of a supply run in the city, hopefully none of the biters are around, one can only hope."

Dr. David Brine

I crumbled the piece of paper in my hands and tossed it on the floor next to four dead bodies. The note was dated a year ago and every word of it is true. I clutched my nine millimeter pistol and continued to search for supplies. I was in Pittsburgh, the city is filled with hostile human factions we call hunters, and the infected raise the danger level. Scavenging in the city is not my first line of choice but I normally get in and out with no problems. I quietly opened the door leading out of the building I was holed up in. The overgrowth of vegetation is massive, skyscrapers are empty husks and cars sit idle with rotten tires and smashed windows, they go on for miles.

I pull out my map and mark of the building I was just in to avoid backtracking when making another supply run. I fold my map back into my backpack and began to head back home.

Five hours later

"Damn" I said out loud to no one in particular.

The sun had disappeared from the horizon and night was quickly falling. I heard them, the infected. They were close by and damn well knew I was here, they've been stalking me. Even the blinds ones who have been infected for so long can still track us using sound. I broke into a full sprint. The biters were hot on my heels and I had little room for error. It was dark, I couldn't see a damn thing in front me. My lungs were on fire, but I couldn't stop. I kept going and going, that's when I felt the ground beneath my feet disappear.

I hit the ground below me with a loud thud. My head was spinning and I was going in and out of consciousness. The air was heavy and had a weird smell to it, I reached into my backpack and quickly got out my mask, there were spores everywhere. The infected were climbing there way down towards me, and I was caught in one of their nests in the dark. I got up and again broke out into a blind sprint, my head was pounding, my knees were locking up, I collapsed onto the ground, the infected were right behind me. After the first couple of bites, my field of vision went black.

Spyros Point of view

Five years ago Cynder and I took the fight to Malefor and we succeeded. Life was pretty much peaceful, although you would have and occasional raid from grublins or apes, but they didn't last long and would be repelled quickly. It was pretty late, I was heading home from a patrol that I led to the outer Grove, where the apes ands grublins would mass, but thankfully, it was clear today. I used my horns to push open the door to my house. It was dark inside, but I could make out of dark figure in the hallway. No doubt it was Cynder she would usually wait for me to get home before heading to bed.

"Hey you." I said walking towards my bed.

She replied with a soft nuzzle to my neck and sliding her body against mine. I nuzzled the top of her head and closed my eyes.

"Spyro!"

"SPYRO!"

I shot my eyes open and before me stood Ignitus, my mentor and now the chronicler of the age after Malefor.

"Spyro please wake up something terrible is coming."

"What is it?" I asked

"I don't know, its foreign to this world, but with what visions I have seen it is terrible." Ignitus said.

"Well how am I supposed to stop it?" I asked

"My dear Spyro, you cannot stop this, your goal is to survive and keep the dragon race alive. I fear this is out of your control."

Darrens Pov

I opened my eyes slowly to the site of a river and a lush forest. I rolled up my sleeve and saw multiple bites. Although they looked different, they didn't seem to be getting worse. The bite almost instantly gets worse within ten minutes and yet I have none of the symptoms of infection. A green mist of spores was coming off my clothes. Pieces of the infected humans were stuck to my clothes and they were spreading the spores. I quickly took my jacket off and threw it to the ground. I picked up my backpack and headed away from the spores, hopefully no one would wander into them, even the spores can change you into one of those monsters.

Three hours later.

Im still not getting sick from my bites, no one has ever been immune to the infection this is odd. I wandered out of the forest a while ago and I still don't know where I'm at. This place almost seemed unreal. It was peaceful, too peaceful for me. But the thing is I haven't found any signs of human civilization, and besides the nest of spores I left in the forest there was no signs of infected either. I looked up to the sky, two moons where sinking in the horizon. This was getting stranger by the minute. I heard the flapping of wings in the distance followed by a loud roar. The terrain of the valley was rugged and I faced a huge hill up ahead. If I could get to the top I would have a better view of my surroundings. I ran up the hill breaking a small sweat, but for what I saw it was worth it. A city, I could see small figures moving in the streets.

Spyros Pov

Ignitus said something terrible was coming but what? I sent all of my available patrols out to insure our borders were safe, even as far as the forest. A few hours passed and all my patrols had reported back in, each gave me there reports, nothing surprising except the forest patrols. They had reported a green mist carrying small white spores, and the whole patrol looked sick. I sent the patrol of eight dragons to the Medical Center to be treated. Terrador walked up beside me, I jumped.

"Terrador? Why are you here?" I asked.

"I'm just checking on the patrols as you are, Ignitus warned me too. I hope the Dark Master hasn't returned." He said grimly

"Me too, the forest patrol came back with some interesting news."

"What did they find?" Terrador inquired.

"They walked into a green mist full of white spores, they said felt fine earlier, but when they got back to Warfang they had one of the worst headaches they've ever had."

" It was probably just a potent fungus, you lived in the swamp, you know how toxic some of those mushrooms can be." Terrador said.

"Yes, but none of the fungus in the swamp give off a green vapor, the fungi in the swamp don't cause headaches either, they're more along the lines of paralysis and poisoning. This thing the patrol found is odd."

"Hmph"

Terrador had a grim look across his face and suddenly it hit me.

"Terrador. I think this is what Ignitus was warning us about."

(A/N) Okay this was the first chapter of my new story Infection Please feel free to review and as always stay tuned for more

Su


	2. Chapter 2

The city I saw was just over the next hill, but wasn't too far. I couldn't just rush in, I didn't know if the people there were hostile or not, I had to approach quietly and cautiously. I didn't even know who brought me here. Whoever did was crazy as hell, who would save someone who had been bitten by one of the infected? None of this was making sense to me.

A cool breeze whipped through my hair, I inhaled the sweet scent. Everything in Pittsburg smelt of death and decay. That was mainly due to the dead survivors, the infection merely controlled the brain, it didn't kill the host. It just made them violent and gave them craving for human flesh. I never really got involved in groups, they say there is safety in numbers. To me, that just meant more mouths to feed, more people to get attached to, and sometimes children to look after. It was too risky, that's why I prefer to be a loner it's safer. Most of the people I had associated with didn't like my survival style, I will do anything to survive.

The city walls soon loomed above my head, something wasn't right. I would have been at least spotted by now. I pulled out my nine millimeter pistol, there was a small gap in the city wall a few feet away. I crouched down and walked through the gap. I knew I had to stay low, if there was people inside here, it wouldn't be nice if they figured out I snuck in.

I was standing in a small deserted clearing, there was a small alley to my left. I scanned the area but that seemed to be the only way out. I walked towards the alley and headed down it. The alley was narrow and I wouldn't have much room to move if I did get in a skirmish. Sweat beaded down my forehead, I was getting nervous, the city was booming with activity when I saw it on the hill, what had happened? Maybe I was just on the older part of the city. I couldn't shake the feeling of being watched, something was stalking me, I just felt it. I heard footsteps behind me, I whipped around my sights were on the creature following me.

"What the hell?" I said out loud. The creature was a dragon, or at least I thought it was. This one in particular was blood red with yellow horns. His lips were drawn back in snarl, his white fangs shining in the sunlight. He charged towards me, smoke pluming out of his nostrils.

I fired three rounds of my pistol into the dragons chest, he tumbled back about three feet. Blood was pouring from his chest, he was also coughing up blood. His expression gave away a look of pure terror as I neared him. He tried moving away, but his body failed him.

" You shouldn't have tried to attack me." I unloaded one more round into his head. His head snapped backwards and his body ceased to take breath.

"Whatever those loud bangs were they came from the abandoned part of the city." A voice yelled.

I heard footsteps and lots of them. I put my pistol in my holster and sprinted out of the alley. My shirt was covered in blood, I just had to avoid getting caught. I don't know where I was, but I was definitely not on Earth. My mind was spinning, I've been thrown into world of dragons and thrown out of a world of infection and death. I still didn't know how I got here, none of this made sense to me.

Spyro's POV

Four loud bangs came from the abandoned part of the city. We found a dragon's body, three holes punched in his chest and one in his head, whoever did this was brutal. That dragon was basically executed. I flew up into the air, a figure was running away from the body and was covered in the blood spatter from his victim. I followed him, he was crafty, using the shadows and cover to his advantage to hide from the numerous patrols looking for him. But I knew the same tactics fairly well too, so it was easy to keep up with him.

He stopped to catch his breath for a few moments, now was my chance. I charged at him, he whirled around and fired two shots out of his weapon. I brought up a earth wall to attempt to deflect the projectiles and it worked. The projectiles bounced off with a loud twang. I got close enough to him and drove my horns into his chest. I got a close look at the creatures face. He looked like an ape, but with fur only on his head and face, he was also more deadly than the apes I've fought.

I managed to dislodge his weapon from his hand when I knocked him over. He quickly got back up and pulled a long blade from his waist.

"I will gut you and feed you to the biters if you draw anymore blood from me dragon." He said hostilly.

Biter? What did he mean by that? Maybe it was just something this ape said to other things of his kind. I fired a bolt of electricity at him, he screamed in agony. It wasn't enough to kill him, just enough to subdue him.

"What kind of dragon are you?" He yelled in pain.

"I'm a purple dragon." I said firing another bolt of electricity into his body, knocking him unconscious.

Darren's POV

My body ached, that purple dragon was absolutely deadly, I had superior technology and he still managed to easily beat me. I sat up slowly and clasped my hands over my head. My gear had been stripped off of me. I could see my machete, hunting rifle, and pistol outside, of the room I was in. I could hear voices outside of my door.

"Spyro, are you sure you want to talk to him?" A feminine voice said.

"I'm sure Cynder, this ape is different from the ones we've fought, he's very deadly. The gear he has is nothing I've ever seen more advanced, and more deadly than arrows. It punched holes clean through the dragon he killed."

"Just be careful okay?"

" I will Cynder."

The door to my room opened, and the same purple dragon who almost killed me was standing before me.

"Have you come here to finish what you started beast?" I said menacingly.

"On the contrary, I just want to talk ape." The purple dragon said to me.

"Why do you call me an ape? I'm a human. Have you ever heard of them?" I asked.

"No. You just look like the apes I fought in the past only less hairy and more deadly. What are you doing in my city and where did you come from?" He asked.

"I'm just looking for supplies and im from a place called Earth. I take it you've never heard of it. Its basically like your planet here, but with no dragons." I explained to him.

" I'll cut to the chase, I want to view your memories to make sure you weren't sent by Malefor. Follow me." He said motioning with his paw.

"Alright." I said.

I followed him outside of my room and into a huge hallway, it was booming with activity, When the dragons in the hall saw me, they stopped whatever they were doing and just stared at me. I couldn't say I was exactly safe, but I wasn't in immediate danger. I followed the purple dragon into a smaller room with a small pool in the middle.

"Lie down next to pool and I'll be able to read all of your memories." The purple dragon said.

20 years ago

I walked into my house, after a long day from work. I was on the phone with my boss Brian. He was yelling at me because I forgot to put in my report but I really didn't care. I opened the front door to my house and laying on the couch was my son, Brayden. I walked over to the couch and motioned for him to move.

"Scoot." I said.

Brayden moved over and let out a loud yawn.

"What are you still doing up? It's way past your bedtime."

"I was just waiting for you to get home. I wanted to give you an early birthday present.

He handed me a white box that said Fossil on the top. I opened it up and it was a brand new watch, my other one broke at work while back.

"Thanks Brayden, now im tired and you need to head to bed."

Three hours later.

Things went to hell in the past three hours. That miracle cure for cancer back fired and it was causing some crazy infection. People in our neighborhood were going insane. I grabbed my revolver and woke Brayden up.

"Brayden, buddy get up we need to get out of here. Something bad is happening. People are going crazy, there biting and killing each other."

We ran out into the living room, one of the infected bashed through the sliding glass door in the kitchen, I regonized the face. It was my neighbor Gerald.

"Gerald stay back!" I yelled

He kept running towards me.

"I'm warning you!" I yelled pointing my revolver at his chest.

I had no choice, I put two rounds into his chest. He fell the the ground, and choked on his own blood.

"Brayden uncle Jake is outside waiting in the car. We're leaving."

We ran outside, cop sirens wailing in the distance.

"Where the hell have you been?" Jake yelled.

"Damn Darren you've got blood on you!" Jake yelled.

"Relax Jake it isn't mine. Now lets get out of here."

We climbed into Jakes car and sped down the street.

"They say the infection is spreading like wildfire. Its not just the south anymore. They've been talking about the east coast, west coast and the north too." Jake said.

"We need to get out of here, are the highways open?" I asked Jake.

"No the military has closed off the highways. We can go through town to get out of Jefferson county." Jake said.

"Lets do it." I said

The drive to the town was awful. Families stranded on the sides of the road, neighborhoods littered with bodies. After about ten minutes of riding in the car we arrived in town, only to find almost everyone in Jefferson City had the same idea. Cars were lined up for miles and were at a stand still.

"Everyone else had the same idea." Jake muttered.

Screams broke out from the cars in front of us, Infected were running out of a wooded area leading to another part of town.

"Jake move. MOVE!" I yelled.

Jake threw the car in reverse and headed towards the old library only to be stopped by a coloum of people.

"Look out!" Brayden yelled.

Jake and I looked in the direction of Brayden and saw a car heading towards us at full speed. The car rammed into the side of Jakes car.

Ten minutes later.

"Dad? Come on get up! We have to get out of here!" Brayden screamed.

Jakes car was lying on its top, I opened the door and crawled out followed by Brayden.

"Wheres Uncle Jake?" Brayden asked.

"I don't know buddy." I said

I motioned for him to follow me and we ran into a nearby alley. I turned a corner and a biter lunged at me. I held him back as long as I could. I saw Jake out of the corner of my eye, he had a brick in his hand and smashed it on top of the biters head.

"Where were you!" I asked him

"I had to lure the infected away from your car, but nows not the time to sit here and chat we need to get out of here, we are not safe here." Jake said.

Infected were everywhere, coming over the fence and into the alley and coming from the opposite end as well. There was a small bar to our left and the back door was open.

"Quickly into that building. The highway is on the other side." Jake yelled.

The biters were hot on our heels and Jake couldn't get the door closed in time. Jake was holding the door in place with all his might.

"Get to the highway, I'll meet up with you later." Jake said.

"Look theres no way in-"

"You have Brayden go!"

"Brayden im going to pick you up and you hold on tight okay? We're almost out of here." I said .

I ran as fast as I could. Brayden had a death grip on my neck and was holding on for dear life. I ran down a hill and up a small hill. Gunshots broke into the night and the biters behind me dropped like flies.

"Its okay Brayden we're safe." I said.

"Stop right there!" He reached for his radio and hailed his commander.

"I've got a couple of civilians. Please advise." HIs commander responded quickly.

"But sir there's a little boy. I understand."

"Look buddy we've just been through hell." I said.

He raised his rifle at Brayden and me.

"Oh S-" I was cut off as the soldier fired multiple rounds at Brayden and me. I rolled a hill and the soldier quickly followed and pointed his rifle at me. I kicked his legs out from under him and grabbed his rifle and out two rounds in his skull.

"Brayden you okay?" I yelled into the night.

I got no response.

I shined the flashlight on my sons body. He was crying a bullet had lodged itself deep in my sons abdomen.

'Move your hand buddy, I know this hurts." 

His breathing was getting more shallow and his eyes were glazing over,

"No, no,no Brayden stay with me!" I yelled.

His chest stopped moving and he was no longer drawing breath. '

"Don't do this to me buddy, please don't die." I said sobbing.

(A/N) Okay heres chapter two of infection and gives a little backstory to Darren and show why he is so hard set. Feel free to review and stay tuned for Chapter three.


	3. Chapter 3

(A/n) Sorry guys for the long wait, I've been extremely busy with work, school and sports and this chapter has been long overdue. Again I'm sorry for the wait and here is the next chapter for Infection.

Chapter 3

Tears ran down my face, twenty years ago the infection ripped Brayden away from me. I looked around the pool to see the faces of the dragons watching my memories. Most had a look of despair or sadness across their face.

"That's when the spores first started to turn people into crazies, it was madness, after I lost Brayden, my only goal was to survive. It's all I could do." I explained to the dragons in the room.

Spyro in particular had a look of terror across his face, he quickly looked at me and opened his mouth to speak.

"These spores, they aren't green are they?" He asked in a extremely strained voice.

"The spores are green. How did you know that?" I asked nervously

"Our patrols came back from investigating the green fog you brought with you on your way here, they came back not too long ago, they were falling ill." Spyro said in a grim tone.

That's when it hit me, the spores had infected his patrol, and no one here knew the devastation this disease could cause. I looked at Spyro and he looked up at me.

"You need to kill every single one of those dragons, or the consequences will be dire." I said.

"Are you crazy? We don't kill our own here, maybe back on earth that's what you when one of your kind falls ill, but here in Avalar, we care for one another regardless if your sick or not!" Spyro spat.

"Listen to me, I know I have no right coming into your city telling you what to do, but these dragons inhaled those spores, they're infected with the disease. Soon they will become violent, they will eat the corpses of the dead. If you don't believe me, I'll show you the memories of my worst supply run ever, I lost half of the group that day." I said laying down next to the pool.

Spyro mumbled some words underneath his breath and I closed my eyes as I relived this dark day once again.

The air was crisp and cool with the feeling of autumn just around the corner. My group had just left our last location, Akron. The city became overrun and we had to get out of there. Our goal was to get to Pittsburgh, where everyone was saying the military was offering us protection from the disease. We were still a long way from Pittsburgh, but we needed to stop for supplies. Max was our groups accountant, he kept up with what supplies we had and what we needed. He was flipping through his most up to date list and began to mumble it's contents out loud.

"Three cans of beans, Three jars of dehydrated meat, and ten bottles of water." Max said as he looked up at me. "This wont last us long Darren, we still have well over 200 miles to go till we get to Pittsburgh and this won't even get us half the way. We need to scavenge supplies from Cleveland, its dangerous, but if we take our best runners and you, we can get the supplies we need." Max said.

I didn't know what to think of the plan. Either way we were going to lose people, either it be from hunger, thirst, or the bloody biters. I had to go with scavenging the supplies, we had children that haven't eaten in days due to our shortage of food, and I couldn't stand to see it any longer.

"Alright everyone listen up, I need our best runners to come forward, you guys know who you are. Before we even think about taking any steps towards Pittsburgh, we need supplies badly. We are down to the bare minimum and we cannot live like this any longer."

Slowly, one by one, our runners came forward. A cold breeze blew threw the air, I took a deep breath and inhaled the sweet scent. I looked at each and every one of the runners. I knew that some of them wouldn't come back to their families, it was just the bitter truth that I had to accept a long time ago.

"Alright guys we need to move towards the city before dark comes. You know how much more violent the infected get after dark. So let's not get caught." I said loudly.

We set out towards the ruined city while the sun was still high in the sky. As the city came closer to us, the stench of decay hit our noses, the infected must be in large numbers near our position. It was crucial we didn't make any loud noises or draw attention to ourselves. However, our luck seemed to be holding up. There was a grocery store right ahead of our position, the doors were shut but there was no indication of an attempted break in.

"Alright guys stay low and stay quiet the last thing we need is a horde of biters coming after us." I whispered to the group of runners.

We made our way to the store and one of the runners began picking the lock. We could only see a glimpse of the horde of biters in front of the store through some thick undergrowth. There were easily hundreds of them, and by the moans coming nearby, there might be even more. The runner, his name was Jack, he motioned me over and opened the door.

"Look out for anything suspicious, this could all be a big trap for all we know."

We scavenged for a good while, reaping the canned goods and bottled water. This place was a gold mine, no one dared come near because of the massive amount biter surrounding the front. Things were going really smooth, for once we were going to make it back to the camp without a scratch.

A loud crash interrupted my train of thought followed by another loud crash. Two shelves fell down, and roars cane from the front of the building

"Guys we need to move! They know we are in here!" I yelled.

The front door of the grocery store collapsed as an unyielding amount of infected poured through the door, sprinting at us with blind instinct. We seemed to be outrunning them for a while, but our escape was halted as infected came through the entrance we used to get in. I fired shot after shot at the biters coming my way, but most of the runners weren't so lucky. Biters tackled them to the ground and began to rip them apart and feast. I climbed on top of a shelf and Max followed right behind me. No one else had made it, only a few biters stood below us, and scattered throughout the store were our runners, we could hear their screams of agony as the biters ripped them apart. I looked away from the gruesome scene, but I couldn't get the sound of their screams out of my head.

"Max we need to get out of here, we can head out the way we came in, most of the biters joined the feeding frenzy but we don't have long window of time." I said

I counted to three and we both jumped off the shelf and sprinted towards the back door. A few of the biters noticed us and began to run towards us, but the few drew more attention from other occupied biters to us.

"RUN MAX RUN!" I yelled

Everything seemed like a blur, my heart was pounding hard in my chest, my lungs burning from a lack of oxygen, everything seemed distant, but something wasn't right, I was alone. I looked back the store which was well behind me and half way there is a group of biters, and on the ground looking at me was the cold dead stare from Max as he was ripped limb from limb.

Present Time

I slowly sat up and turned to Spyro, he had a look of pure disbelief on his face, as if he couldn't believe the images he just saw. Most of the other dragons had the same look on their face as Spyro, not even they wanted to believe the state of decay the earth was in.

Screams broke out in the halls outside the memory pool, a dragon guard busted open the door with a frantic look on their face.

"Spyro you need to come to the infirmary, the patrol that was sent out earlier is gone and the mole doctors have been killed!" The guard yelled.

The blood drained from Spyros face, he gulped and helplessly looked over to me,

"What should we do Darren?" He asked.

(A/N) There is chapter 3 which has been long overdue as always feel free to review and as always I'll see you in the next chapter

Suresh0t


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